Gaming to help special needs patients

An innovative gaming therapy may become a reality for special needs patients in the region.

Two students from the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) are working on a tight schedule to finalise their software application that is designed to provide an interactive physiotherapy for children with walking disabilities.

Bhavik Salvi and Shawn Frank, final year computer science students, recently tested the first phase of their project, Virtual Walk, at the UOWD Software Development Trade Show and won first prize for their idea.

How it all began

The students wanted to take on a graduation project that would benefit many people and solve a lot of problems. When brainstorming for ideas on YouTube, they found a video of a child undergoing physiotherapy. "We saw that when the child was going through physiotherapy she didn't really want to do it, so we thought why not make it more interactive for the child, as a matter of fact for anyone who needs to go through physiotherapy," Salvi said.

Physiotherapy requires patients to undertake routine exercises that they may not want to participate in and that may even be extremely painful, Salvi and Frank said. "But if you have a virtual reality or gaming environment, first of all you'll be interested in checking it out and the interactive therapy can help the patient get distracted so they're not completely focusing on the pain, which may even yield better results," Frank said.

Their goal is to encourage the patients to motivate themselves. They're hoping that this type of therapy would boost the patients' progress rate by 5 to 10 per cent compared to traditional physiotherapy.

First interactive therapy in UAE

Frank and Salvi both believe that their interactive therapy will be the first of its kind available in the country. A senior occupational therapist at Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre in Dubai confirmed their belief. "Yes, as far as I know this will definitely be the first customised interactive gaming program in the UAE specifically designed for children with special needs," Mizpah Takapi said.

The students said Virtual Walk incorporated their software application with a Wii remote concept, which was pioneered by a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

The Wii remote concept tracks sources of infrared light on a projected screen in order to provide an interactive display for the user. With this concept, the teammates will fit infrared sensors on shoes that will allow them to get feedback from the children's movement and keep track of their progress over time.

How it works

Salvi explained that when the patient steps on an area defined by the Wii remote, the remote will know the exact location of the patient by picking up the infrared light from the bulb on the shoe.

"Basically, the Wii remote sends the coordinates to the computer, which is running a software made by us. We use this feedback to manipulate how to change the situation for the patient," he added.

In the computing language, this is called ambient intelligence. Dr Farhad Oroumchian, one of the professors supervising Frank and Salvi on their project, defined this technology as an environment that is aware of people and interacts with them to accomplish goals.

To give Frank and Salvi a clear picture of what goes on during physiotherapy, Oroumchian took the students to the therapy centre. "Without seeing how things actually are, students normally use their imagination and come up with things that look interesting but in reality have no application," the professor said.